April 10, 2024 |
Photo – Jeffery Center in Rawlins on Election Day – Bigfoot99 file photo
Election integrity at small Wyoming polling stations may not seem like a critical matter in Carbon County with its relatively small population, but some of the larger areas in the Cowboy State have more reason to be on guard against fraud.
Secretary of State Chuck Gray certainly thinks so.
Grey sent a letter to Governor Mark Gordon on Tuesday urging him to sign the Secretary’s amendments to Chapter 2 of the State’s Election Procedures. The amended rules require acceptable identification for proof of residency, as well as uniform proof of U.S. citizenship at a time when the President of the United States is flying illegals to new homes around the country.
Reports on Tuesday of available federal records show that the Biden Administration has secretly flown 33,000 illegal aliens into New York City and an astounding 326,000 into the state of Florida over the last several years. The number of illegals that Biden has trafficked around the country dwarfs the number Texas Governor Greg Abbot has bussed to blue cities in an act of defiance of the White House immigration policy.
In Wyoming, the Secretary of State has attempted to provide a bulwark against the national tilt away from election integrity that has been a hallmark of Democratic leadership. Gray’s letter to the governor also addresses and refutes questions raised by an analysis and recommendation conducted by the Legislative Service Office.
Secretary Gray noted that the rules create a verification process preventing non-residents and illegal aliens from registering to vote in Wyoming.
The public comment period for the election rules ran from December 7, 2023 to January 26, 2024. Approximately 485 written comments were submitted to the state from a diverse set of stakeholders. According to the Secretary’s office, approximately 280 were in favor of the proposed rules as written, 180 were opposed, and the remainder of written comments received were neither in favor or opposed to the proposed rules.
Additionally, a public comment hearing on January 26, 2024 produced 70 verbal comments, the majority of which were in favor of the proposed rules as submitted.
Comments, in support of the proposed, offered focused on preventing voter fraud, enhancing security of Wyoming elections, fulfilling constitutional and statutory requirements, and enhancing confidence in Wyoming elections.
Comments, in opposition to the proposed rules, centered around the general themes that the proposed rules do not address a problem in Wyoming, that the rulemaking would “suppress the vote” and/or would be unduly burdensome against students, indigent, and the elderly, as well as concerns that many Wyoming drivers’ licenses do not contain a residence address. Some comments expressed concerns that the rules will increase wait times at polling places on election day.
